Telecommunications switching platforms operate to connect incoming communication channels to selected outgoing communication channels. This switching is generally done in response to phone numbers dialed by the users or subscribers of the company operating the telecommunications system, or by others who are calling these subscribers. For example, the caller enters a phone number and signaling is sent along with or over the communication channel and the telecommunication system attempts to establish an end-to-end communications link to the destination number that the caller has dialed.
An end-to-end communications channel is established through a switch within the telecommunications switching platform. This switch is typically a non-blocking matrix switch, which is operable to connect the incoming channel to one of many outgoing channels. The switch operates under control of a processor within the telecommunications switching platform. The processor supplies information that the switch uses to connect one information channel to another through the switch. Typically, the switch receives a number of time-multiplexed input signals and provides a number of time-multiplexed output signals. There are also typically a number of resources within the switching platform. These resources may be connected to each other or to an information channel through the switch. For example, if the caller seeks to initiate a call to a busy number, the caller must receive a busy signal; this busy signal is provided by a resource within the telecommunications switching platform, and the familiar busy tone is passed through the switch and received by the caller.
In the event that a resource within the telecommunication switching platform fails or is added or removed from the system while the system is operating, prior-art systems have failed to detect such failure or insertion or extraction. Thus, such systems are unable to be easily configured or reconfigured.
In prior-art telecommunications switching platforms, a number of processors or controllers may be implemented to perform the numerous functions of the platforms. In such cases, each of the processors typically has an operating system associated with it. Prior-art systems have typically required that the operating system be downloaded into volatile memory from a high-level operating system, which might have its own associated nonvolatile semiconductor memory or hard disk drive.